Holiday showed up his successor at point guard, helping the New Orleans Pelicans hand the 76ers their third consecutive defeat, to the tune of 121-105.

Holiday, the All-Star point guard traded on draft night, came three rebounds shy of a triple-double against his former team. He wrapped up his homecoming with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting, accompanied by 13 assists and seven boards. Adding insult to injury, in a game already in the Pelicans’ control, Holiday dribbled past three Sixers and to the rim for an uncontested layup late in the fourth quarter.

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Speaking of guys feeling at home, Tyreke Evans did just about everything for New Orleans. The Chester native and three-time All-Delco from American Christian Academy, Evans finished with 16 points, four rebounds, four steals and four assists. The Pelicans’ Eric Gordon led all scorers with 26 points, and Anthony Davis wasn’t far behind with 22.

Against Holiday, the guy he replaced, rookie Michael Carter-Williams looked out of sorts for the Sixers. His line score looked glitzy, with 10 points and nine assists, but he also had five of the Sixers’ 18 turnovers. For a team that turns it over 18 times per game, the Sixers had that many through three quarters.

It took less than two hours for the game’s decision to be rendered. And statistically speaking, people will know who won and who lost at Wells Fargo Center.

Really, for the Sixers’ sake, there was no bad outcome in this one.

With an eye to the future, a win or a loss against the Pelicans would go a long way toward supporting their cause. A win in their ledger is what it is — a positive stepping stone for a green team. A loss to the Pelicans, of all teams, constitutes a win, too.

Here’s how: In the transaction that sent Holiday to New Orleans, the Sixers also picked up a lottery-protected pick … which means that unless the Pelicans finish among the league’s bottom-six teams, the Sixers will have a first-round pick in next June’s draft coming their way. So the Sixers are rooting for New Orleans to stay out of the cellar, even if that comes at their expense.

At the very least, the Sixers can view their loss as a closing of the gap between the two clubs. Earlier this month, New Orleans throttled the Sixers, 135-98.

Holiday was introduced to a swath of cheers from the home crowd, a nod to his four-year tenure.

Sixers fans were equally as pleased to see Thaddeus Young, Spencer Hawes and Tony Wroten. Young was playing in only his second game, his first at home, since a three-game departure from the team due to personal reasons. Meanwhile, Hawes and Wroten got their first run in a week with their respective knee and back injuries.

A tight first quarter, in which New Orleans led most of the way, bled into the second. Hawes canned a corner 3-pointer off a drive-and-dish look from Carter-Williams, putting the Sixers ahead, 43-42.

That’s when misfortune befell the Sixers.

Following a Davis bucket for the Pelicans, Evan Turner got whistled for a charge at the other end of the floor. The call probably should have gone against New Orleans’ Jason Smith, who appeared to have flopped to the floor. Instead, it was New Orleans ball, triggering a quick 7-0 spurt.

Even after a timeout, the Sixers couldn’t perform a course correction. Evans swiped an errant backcourt pass out of the stoppage and threw down a right-handed slam on the coast-to-coast play.

The Pelicans stormed to a 61-55 lead at the break.

In the third, it was much of the same for New Orleans — except far more from Davis. In successive possessions, the second-year forward cleaned up a miss from Gordon above the rim and contributed a fastbreak slam after picking Carter-Williams. To that point, Davis’ hot streak amounted to 16 of the Pelicans’ last 32 points, giving them a 14-point lead.